Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003232061
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PHIL ROSENTHAL LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Make a Break for the Pat Sajak Show," the sign says. That is what Sajak is seeking for his late-night CBS talk show these days - a break.
"Unfortunately, the perception is `Oh, that's a failed show,' " executive producer Michael Weisman said. "We even tease around here that it's no longer `The Pat Sajak Show.' It's `The Troubled Pat Sajak Show.' It's so hard to change momentum."
Perception is reality in this city, and the perception of Sajak's year-old show is that it is not just in third place behind long-running NBC staple "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and syndicated upstart "The Arsenio Hall Show." Like CBS itself, it is perceived to be a distant third, and you do not have to be Carnak the Magnificent to know what that means.
So Sajak, the former Los Angeles weathercaster who rose to national prominence as Vanna White's letter-perfect co-star on the game show "Wheel of Fortune," these days finds himself fending off the weekly rumors of his current show's demise and trying to remain upbeat.
"Every now and then, I'll have a friend call me and ask how I'm doing - as if I had a relative in emergency care or something," said Sajak, whose contracts with CBS and for the nighttime edition of "Wheel of Fortune" keep him healthy financially. "Maybe it's a character flaw, but that stuff doesn't affect me much. Your interest is in the work at hand and not whatever is swirling around about it.
"That's been interpreted by some people that I don't have a fire inside me or I don't care. . . . There's almost disappointment [from critics] that I'm not in the fetal position on the floor of my office. Most nights I walk away from the show thinking we did an OK show. My self-worth has to be based on that, not on what people I don't even know are writing or saying."
Just doing an OK show may not be enough. As an outsider looking in, NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff does not think the Sajak show is 3 1 SAJAK Sajak dead yet, but it will need to turn things around soon.
"It just seems like they've lost confidence," said Tartikoff, who once saw Sajak as the next Mike Douglas and considered Sajak for a possible daytime talk show on that network. "Pat does have talent. But it seems to be a rudderless ship over there."
Brought aboard to take the helm late last year was deposed NBC Sports executive producer Weisman, whose job was, in Sajak's words, "to try to goose the ratings a little bit."
The show has gotten looser under Weisman. Gone is the couch and the old set in favor of a dark, stark backdrop. ("Now the set looks like cable access," Tartikoff said.)
The format has been altered. Sajak's sidekick, former LA newscaster Dan Miller, is heard and not often seen now. Much of the standard talk-show subjects - the plugs and semi-scripted banter - have been pared. It is different, perhaps even better. But is it enough?
Ultimately, the furniture and set and format matter less than the people who appear on them.
The round-table discussion that now ends Sajak's show most nights is a wonderful idea, as long as the people rounded up have something to say. A typical Sajak guest is a character actor with an upcoming CBS movie.
"It's a vicious cycle," Weisman said. "To get better guests, you need better ratings, and to get better ratings, you need better guests.
"Even before I got here, the momentum was on a downward slide, and it's just hard to stop. My feeling is that if Pat is on long enough, if the network stays with him and he gets through this down period in terms of perception, there's enough talent out there to handle three talk shows.
"Clearly, we have to work harder with our bookings. But if Arsenio gets someone one night, we'll take him another night. If Johnny gets them first, we take them second. We don't care," Weisman said.
Maintaining the status quo would be fatal for "Sajak," which is making money for the network but not for the affiliates, whose ability to profit from the show will dictate its survival or death.
But change is the antithesis of late-night TV convention.
Carson's dominance rests on the idea that his nightly show - even when Jay Leno is guest host - will be the same as it has always been. It is comfortable.
Hall's show was different from Carson's, but in many ways it seems to be a '90s update of the old "Merv Griffin Show."
Having been rejected by viewers for being too much the same, however, Sajak now seems to be awkwardly fumbling around trying to attract the viewers who may have watched the show in its first weeks but have not bothered to tune in since the format was trimmed from 90 to 60 minutes last year.
"It's almost like waving a flag and saying: `Look at us. Everything's OK here,' " Sajak said. "There is a certain discomfort level to it because you see us fumbling around. I don't think it's been too horrible, but it is certainly in a time period that calls out for a relaxed look and consistency. We have lacked that recently."
Sajak himself claimed no delusions going in. He knew the difficulties of competing with Carson. He knew the difficulties of being on a third-place network. He knew the difficulties of his since-abandoned 90-minute format.
"I didn't expect to come in here and blow everybody away," Sajak said. "First of all, it's not the nature of my personality. I don't think I'm the kind of guy who you tune in one night and say, `My God, I can't live without this.' "
Carson has become a late-night fixture, as much a part of bedtime as pajamas. But it is Paramount Television's "The Arsenio Hall Show" that has managed to foster the idea that if you do not watch his show, you might be missing something. His show made its debut and created a whole new audience of late-night viewers even as Sajak's show made its debut and failed to make a dent in the existing late-night audience, contributing to Sajak's problems.
"These things take on a life of their own," Sajak said. "One entity gets to be `the place to be,' and the other gets to be `a struggling giant.' There isn't that much difference in numbers of people watching, but there is that very definable perception difference."
Hall's audience is younger and more appealing to advertisers. Arsenio himself comes across as hipper than his peers. Because his success has come in syndication and not on the networks, it is seen as even more impressive.
"What Arsenio has done is a terrific job of merchandising and promoting their success," Weisman said. "Carson got a 6.2 [rating], Arsenio got a 4, and we got a 3. But if you would just believe the stuff being put out by Arsenio, they're the No. 1 talk show in town. Well, you know what? The king is still Johnny Carson."
While the ratings have been disappointing, Sajak said he is happy with the quality of his show to date. "That's easy to say because I'm probably one of my biggest fans," he said. "But I've been a part of some bad shows in my life, and this isn't one of them."
by CNB